Archives for December 2016

I’m having a love affair – with a cookbook. Seriously, do you have the new Skinnytaste cookbook Fast & Slow? If you don’t, put that on your holiday gift list or just go buy it for yourself (that’s what I do). Never one to be secretive about my obsession with the slow cooker (or crockpot…what’s the difference anyway???), this cookbook will be your new best friend in getting delicious food on the table each week. Every recipe I have tried has been a winner so far but this one might take the cake. I made it last week and, ironically, it’s in the slow cooker right now for tonight’s dinner. Can I say how much I love checking dinner of my to-do list at 9am?

I’ve made this into tacos, into a salad, thrown it in with roasted brussels sprouts – what I’m saying here is that it is excellent the first time around and equally fabulous thrown together in one form or other as leftovers. I may see if my kid’s like it tonight but selfishly, excluding them means more for me.

I made just a couple changes to the recipe including swapping tamari for soy sauce and coconut sugar for brown sugar. You know how I feel about processed sugar!

Slow Cooker Korean-Style Beef Tacos

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds flank steak, cut across the grain into 4 pieces

1/4 cup reduced sodium tamari

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1/4 cup chopped yellow onion

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon coconut sugar

1/2 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (I honestly never measure this)

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Instructions:

Place the beef in a large container or ziploc bag. In a small bowl, combine the tamari, sesame oil, onion, garlic, coconut sugar, ginger and red pepper flakes. Pour the marinade over the beef and refrigerate overnight for best results.

Transfer the beef and marinade to a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, until the meat shreds easily with 2 forks. Reserve 1/4 cup of the liquid from the slow cooker and discard the rest. Transfer the meat to a cutting board, shred with 2 forks, and return to the slow cooker with the reserved liquid.

Serve in a warmed tortilla with your toppings of choice, over chopped romaine as a salad, over cauliflower rice, with roasted veggies or eat alone. This stuff tastes good any way you serve it!

I hear it all the time, “Oh, my kids LOVE salmon, we have it every week!” Can I tell you how many times I tried to get MINE to eat it? Fail every time. The closest we get to fish in this house is a fish stick and sometimes I’m a little skeptical if there is even fish in those things – to me it just looks like another breaded something to add to the weekly rotation! Seriously though, fish is so good for you and I really wanted to find a recipe that they would eat – that we could ALL eat.

Jackpot! What’s crazy is I have had this salmon marinade recipe written on a notecard for years. YEARS. I kind of forgot about it for a while and pulled it back out recently and thought it was worth a shot. Yup, they ate it. This is going to have to go back into rotation again. I have no idea where this recipe came from so I can’t give credit where credit is due but it seems to be a winner all around. Try it on your littles and see what happens. Worst case? You have extra for lunch the next day.

Kid-Friendly Salmon

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pound salmon (preferably wild-caught)

1/3 cup pineapple juice

1/4 cup maple syrup

3 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce)

Zest & juice of a lime (or lemon)

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a ziploc bag or glass container to marinate. I usually throw this stuff together in the morning and leave it in the fridge for the day. The longer it marinates, the better! 2-4 hours is fine though.